Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that his side were frustrated with the 1-1 draw with Birmingham City on Saturday.

The scoreline remained goalless for a vast majority of the game, until substitute Samir Nasri opened the scoring with a well-struck shot into the bottom corner with less than 10 minutes to go. But Birmigham striker Kevin Phillips' lucky equaliser during the death ensured that the Gunners' title hopes took a blow.

The Gunners are now three points behind Chelsea at the top of the table. When asked if he was frustrated with the outcome of the game, Wenger told Sky Sports: "Yes, of course, because with one minute to go, we had two or three chances to score the second goal and [we] didn't do it."

The Arsenal gaffer dodged the question when asked to comment on whether the Gunners found it hard to play against Birmingham in their own backyard, saying: "Yes, it is very difficult to play football on this pitch."

Despite the draw, the Frenchman maintained that his side will trudge on in the hope of revitalising their bid to be crowned champions of England.

"We fight until the end," Wenger said.

"It's what we want to do. We have a big disappointment to swallow today, but we will continue to fight."

How do you stop Lionel Messi? It is the tactical equivalent of trying to understand string theory. Coaches in La Liga are flapping around in despair trying to find a way of containing the mop-headed genius who, with the ball at his feet, is as predictable as a quantum leap. Gael Clichy has probably got a better chance of repairing the Large Hadron Collider.

His hat-trick last week against Zaragoza – not to be mistaken with his hat-trick against Valencia the week before – has prompted such a gush of global reverence that the Vatican have shown great restraint in not having him beatified. Saint Leo is working miracles.

The Zaragoza coach, Jose Aurelio Gay, claimed Messi was like Diego Maradona "but faster" and shrugged off the defeat – what can be done in defiance of an act of God?


Those goals took his total to 34 for the season so far – how do you stop him plundering more? If you ask an Argentine they will tell you the only man capable of the task is Maradona himself, whose tactically inept handling of the national side manages to subdue Messi.

Yet last season, one man managed to do a sound tactical number on Messi: Guus Hiddink. In the two legs of Chelsea's Champions League semi-final with Barcelona, the Dutchman's team kept Messi remarkably quiet for 180 minutes, and went out, remember, only on away goals and after some, well, bizarre officiating from Thomas Ovrebo.

In the first leg, Chelsea sat deep and Jose Bosingwa, the stand-in left back and a right-footer, was comfortable with Messi cutting inside from the right – his characteristic movement as he is left-footed – because Michael Essien had been stationed deep, just in front of the centre backs, to pounce on the Argentine every time it happened.

Hiddink prompted Essien throughout. With Florent Malouda tirelessly tracking the overlapping runs of Daniel Alves and the Chelsea midfield trying to close the supply-lines to Messi, he was suffocated.

The second leg at Chelsea was a repeat, this time with Ashley Cole doing the honours at left back, working with Essien to ensure the space was constricted. They created a human cul-de-sac.

In part because of the way he was nullified by Chelsea, Guardiola switched Messi up front for the final against Manchester United, in which he proved much harder to contain, even if he didn't have his finest game.

Furthermore, Chelsea's tactic, defending so deeply, relied on Barcelona's reluctance to cross as Chelsea's defence so dominated in the air. Even the Barcelona corners were taken short.

This deficiency is another Guardiola has sought to solve, by signing the tall, powerful striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic to play up top. With him, the cross has become an option again. Messi, ostensibly on the right, is allowed to roam freely. It's a whole new headache.

Arsenal cannot copy Chelsea's tactic. They do have a quick left back in Clichy but lack a defensive midfielder with Essien's combative zip. Even if Alex Song were to have the game of his life tracking Messi, the idea of the back line dropping to the edge of the box or deeper goes against Arsenal's every instinct.

To mitigate the damage Messi can do I suspect Arsène Wenger will take the high risk, but high reward, approach of trying to pin Barcelona back. In opposition to Hiddink he will want his team to retain possession and to take Barcelona on,
getting Clichy to pin Messi back by getting forward himself.

The flaw in this system is that with William Gallas out injured, either Mikaël Silvestre or Sol Campbell will start alongside Thomas Vermaelen in the centre of defence.

Neither player is good when players accelerate down the channels to either side of them, so Messi must not be allowed to isolate them.

Despite the success Sir Alex Ferguson had with getting Park ji-sung to tail Andrea Pirlo of Milan remorselessly in the previous round, Wenger has ruled out a man-marking job.

"It can work, but in exceptional teams you have two or three you should man mark and then you have to go to a system where you could create your own problems just by following somebody everywhere," he said.

Devoting one player to pursue Messi (and it would have to be a spare midfielder) would leave the midfield open for Xavi and Andres Iniesta to feast.